Annual Report 2009-10 - Sustainable Development Policy Institute

Annual Report2009 - 2010Sustainable Development ConferenceThe Sustainable Development Conference is an international conference that creates a platformfor nurturing informed debate on the most pressing concerns that face South Asia today. EachSDC is designed to reflect the existing political, economic and social milieu of the region andprovides a forum for sharing and exchanging dialogue on sustainable development. The SDCseries has been established as a prime Conference in South Asia on development issues attractingleading intellectuals, development practitioners, communities and policy-makers. Therehave been twelve SDC's so far and each SDC mirrors the most urgent and critical concerns ofits time. The first SDC took place in 1995 and was titled, “The Green Economics Conference”.Its focus was on the interaction between economics and the environment, and included researchpapers on trade, fiscal policy, EIAs, green accounting, forestry, energy, industry and theurban environment. In addition to environmental issues, new challenges have also emerged, asSouth Asia has had to confront a multitude of catastrophes in the form of natural disasters andmajor political upheavals and transformations. The last ten years have been punctuated with calamitiesof cataclysmic proportions creating a ripple effect that has caused conflict and increaseddepravity leading to political unrest and instability. To name just a few, in 2004 the tsunamithat hit Indonesia killed more that 230,000 people in fourteen countries. Less than fiveyears later in 2005 Pakistan was hit by a devastating earthquake destroying thousands ofhomes and killing almost 85,000 people. Operations are still underway to help those people rebuildtheir lives.On the political front Pakistan has also faced major challenges. The years of military rule thatbegan in 1999 have left Pakistan with a plethora of internal conflicts resulting in an increasedsense of insecurity and, once again, greater economic disparity. In 2001 the twin towers wereattacked in the US, creating a new world order, with Pakistan at center stage being projected asthe biggest “terrorist nation” in the world, the repercussions of which are evident in the many suicidebomb attacks that have taken place across the country coupled with internal religiousclashes that have been responsible for thousands of deaths across the nation. These are justsome of the issues that have been faced by South Asia in the last ten years compelling leadingintellectuals to debate and discuss new strategies for a more peaceful and stable future forSouth Asia. With each new challenge that this region has faced, SDC paves the way forward bychoosing relevant themes within its ambit to talk about possible solutions to these major concernsthat threaten to cause even more damage to a region already marred with troubles.Regular themes running through the first to the thirteenth SDC have been gender, poverty, governance,peace, health, environment and food security with a particular emphasis on those areasthat are considered priority areas of the time. In recent years, as reflected by the eventsmentioned above, lawlessness, extremism, insecurity and instability, conflict and the quest forpeace have become the most pressing issues. More recently the flood disaster in Pakistan hasexacerbated the situation causing a greater degree of insecurity and instability. These concernshave thus been the focus in this year's SDC, the thirteenth SDC to be held from 21-23 December2010, titled, “Peace and Sustainable Development in South Asia: The Way Forward”. Peaceand security are central to the discussions and views will be exchanged on how they can be ensuredwith the premise that until the basic needs of the people are met, the rest of the issuessuch as that of conflict in the region cannot possibly be dealt with or improved. Tied in with thisthere will be deliberations on how economic challenges can be handled with positive results interms of using natural resources effectively while at the same time increasing the capacity andeffectiveness of institutions. The 22 panels will cover themes such as the post-flood situation inPakistan, food insecurity, energy crisis, financial crisis, the issue of land acquisition, trade andfinancial liberalization, social protection, religious minorities, the eradication of Violence AgainstWomen (VAW) and beyond millennium development goals vis-à-vis militancy and conflict. In additionsome panels will specifically deal with issues related to flood preparedness and the impactof climate change. Following on from discussions on the relation between the 6Fs crises in thetwelfth SDC (explained below), four levels of security will also be discussed, i.e., global, re-53S u s t a I n a b l e D e v e l o p m e n t P o l I c y I n s t I t u t e